João Galamba, Minister of Infrastructure, saw his position in the government become even more vulnerable after a hearing in the Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs with the Prime Minister’s Deputy Secretary of State.
On the one hand, António Mendonça Mendes did not confirm that he had ordered Galamba to use the SIS (to recover a duty computer brought home by an aide fired by the minister, a computer allegedly containing classified material); and on the other hand, he even denounced the head of Infrastructure for revealing telephone contacts with various members of the government over the incidents that had occurred at the ministry on the night of April 26.
The censorship was implicit but clear enough: “I never thought it appropriate to disclose phone calls” and “I don’t think it is healthy for the Prime Minister’s Foreign Secretary’s functions to allow the disclosure of contacts between members of the government downplay”. It should be remembered that Galamba revealed that on that evening of April 26, he had spoken with Mendonça Mendes (he even revealed that at his side was another Secretary of State, Mário Campolargo, holder of the Digitization and Administrative Modernization portfolio) and also with the Ministers of Justice and Internal Administration, Catarina Sarmento e Castro and José Luís Carneiro. He also said he tried to talk to the prime minister, but he didn’t pick up.
This Tuesday’s hearing again exposed the main contradiction of the government in this case: Galamba said in parliament that it was Mendonça Mendes who gave him the “orientation” to resort to the SIS. But Mendonça Mendes did not confirm this yesterday, arguing that when he spoke to Galamba on the phone, he did not have enough information to “immediately assess whether or not he would communicate” with the SIS.
Thus, the version was maintained that the person who spoke to the “secretaries” was not he or any other member of the government, but Galamba’s chief of staff, Eugénia Correia. And yet, Mendonça Mendes said, “the report does not constitute a request to act.” In other words, SIS acted as it did because SIS decided to.
After the meeting, the PSD and later Chega called for Galamba’s immediate resignation and accused him of lying to parliament. Eurico Brilhante Dias, parliamentary leader of the PS, countered: “To conclude that he was lying seems rash.” OO BE announced that it will file a complaint with the PGR to review the legal framework governing the actions of the SIS.
Source: DN
